We do a lot of learning activities outside when weather permits and this week we worked with colored ice balls. They were easy to make ... the children loved them ... and they looked awesome in the snow!!

We did counting and sorting for specific activities and then the children took the ice balls and played with them in the snow. They made shapes ... buried them ... lined them up and really had an great time with them.

I used liquid water color instead of food coloring for the ice balls. The ice balls will stain children's hands but the water color paint will wash out easier than food coloring. Because we were outside the children had mittens and gloves on for most of the time they were working with the ice balls. I also had special scooper tools that were perfect for picking up the ice balls.

I purchased a special silicone ice ball mold and filled it up with colored water that I had mixed together in a squeeze bottle. I didn't put a specific amount of the liquid paint in ... I just put enough in until I liked the color of the water.

The mold makes four ice balls of the same color at a time and it takes between four to five hours for them to freeze. One they are frozen I removed them from the mold and placed them in zip lock bags with each color having their own bag.

When we were ready to go outside I put all of the ice balls in clear plastic bowls (I had three ice centers set up) and added a special scoop that that is from a fine motor skills tool kit that I really love. The children used clear plastic cups as well as muffin tins to sort and count the ice balls.